community

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees is responsible for fiscal well-being, for the philosophy and objectives of the institution (and their constant review for pertinence), and for the effective implementation of the policies that it enacts.

Claudia Bagiackas
Claudia is a co-founder of the Montessori School of Central Vermont. She served as the MSCVT administrator for the first two years of program formation in 1998 and 1999 and has taught and administrated in Montessori for over 30 years. Claudia holds her Elementary Montessori degree and has a Masters degree in social ecology. In addition to contributing to Montessori in the region she served as the associate director for the Institute of Social Ecology in Plainfield, Vermont for over 12 years. Claudia is a proud mother and grandmother of Montessori children.

Julie Bond- President
Julie is Director of Operations at the Emergent Media Center at Champlain College, where she oversees all aspects of new project development at the Studio, from federal and foundation grants to corporate and non-profit partnerships. She has a wide spectrum of development experience in funding research, grant writing and grants management and compliance. She also works with numerous non-profits in a trustee or advisory capacity and is looking forward to doing so with MSCVT. Julie has also worked as an independent grant consultant; in grants management for the Agency of Commerce and Community Development for the State of Vermont; and in funding research for the Office of Sponsored Programs at Boston University. She holds a Bachelors degree in International Studies and Human Development from Colby College and a Masters degree in Policy, Planning and Administration from Boston University.

David Pelletier- Treasurer
Dave Pelletier is father to a child in the MSCVT primary school. Dave was born and raised in NH and attended the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH, completing degrees in natural resource economics and public administration. He moved to Vermont in 2000 and has never regretted it. Vermont suits him well and he met his lovely wife Jeannie in Montpelier. He works for the Vermont Agency of Transportation making the wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round with the Public Transit program. He enjoys outdoor activities such as fly fishing, biking, skiing and shares a love of music with Jeannie and Dylan."

Wesley Hamilton - Secretary
Wes Hamilton has lived in Central Vermont for the past 14 years and in Middlesex for the past 7. Currently, Wes is the co-owner of several restaurants throughout the area and previously was a founder of the Langdon St Cafe. Previous to that, Wes was involved with music and festival organizing, and spent more hours than he cares to think about working long days on a farm. Wes has also worked at a daycare for about 2 years. Wes attended Montessori schools in Connecticut from the age of three through eighth grade.

Greg Richards
Greg was born in New York, New York. Greg lived there until age 12 when his family moved to Maine. He had the good fortune to grow up in Rangeley, Maine, an area with large lakes, ponds, rivers, mountains. Greg was outdoors when not working in his family's business. He skied, hunted, fished and hiked the woods of Maine. Greg attended Syracuse University School of Business and graduated from Thomas College in Waterville, Maine with a BS in Business Administration.
After college and marriage to Gisele in 1974 he left Rangeley. Greg worked in construction sales and sales management and transferred to Vermont in 1987. In 1990 he became a self employed insurance broker and developed a strong background in insurance law and payment practices having lived with a chronic medical issue since 1969. Greg decided he could help people make better choices for themselves, design better policy plans to maximize their benefits and advocate for them when companies were slow or refusing to pay. He passed his series 6 in 1995 and became a financial representative handling insurance and securities within the scope of my license and practice. Greg is presently taking the required education to work with people dealing with Vermont's' new Health Connect (Obama Care) products.
Greg's granddaughter is attends the Montessori School of Central Vermont and has thrived in this environment.

Michael Tarrant
Mike Tarrant was born and raised in Vermont and grew up in mostly in Montpelier. After attending college in Portland, OR, he moved to Japan where he lived and taught English for seven years before moving back to Vermont to attend Vermont Law School. Mike is currently an attorney for the Vermont Judiciary, working in Barre and Saint Johnsbury. He lives in Montpelier with my wife, Yoko, and his two daughters, Lia and Nami, and their cat Min.